Tuesday, 30 October 2012

MOLOCH! (and George Cruikshank)

The images in the windows of the tower in MOLOCH! follow a simple hierarchy of tiers with the rich at the top, peasants at the bottom, and some of the companies and organisations tenuously holding everything together which I borrowed from George Cruikshank's The Worship of Bacchus.

1860-62

I like the way he organised the picture with very specific examples of the effects of alcoholism at the bottom, then rising to a panorama of the whole society, and the massive profits, and costs to the public purse involved. The way he labelled everything gives a clear meaning, just like Irving Norman would later do. Of course this is the same period that Hogarth had his famous etchings including 'Gin Alley', in wide circulation. Such an ambitious work, with the industrial revolution in full swing.

I did the same thing, at the bottom are those incarcerated or without the hope of opportunity. Children videoing the burning of their schools. Occupy protesters held at Guantanamo Bay.

As we move up a tier we see the children of the elite, and their horror and fear at a glimpse of what they might become. The labeling of top public schools and the cynical Latin mottos are admittedly a pretty cheap shot.

So we rise to the exclusive clubs of higher education, and the conditioning is complete for a role in society! Here the Bullingdon Don! I had such fun dreaming up these creatures!

Then all the way to the top of the tower, the world is their oyster! So many career choices for hungry monsters! I enjoyed the development of the American elite as klansmen and bald eagles. And at the summit, the entire penthouse floor, Goldman Sachs! Yikes!